Best Buds
by Grayson-16
Summary: Barbara Gordon had thought her night was over, and that she was going to get a good nights sleep; but an unexpected visitor arriving with some sad news is about to change her plans.


**A/N**: This is a little one-shot I decided to write about what would happen if Robin (who is Nightwing in this story, by the way) was faced with the death of a friend. It takes place about 8-10 years after Season 1, but I'm not sure if I'll make it tie into my other Young Justice stories or not. Oh, Barbara Gordon is Batgirl by now, and works with Batman and the third Robin (Tim Drake).

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Young Justice, Batgirl, or Batman, blah, blah, blah, property of DC Comics.

**Best Buds**

Barbara Gordon knows that she couldn't have been asleep for that long because she still feels exhausted; so why had she woken up. She looks over at her alarm clock and sees that it is 3:30 in the morning. Then the sound that had awoken her happens again; a knock on her window.

She jumps out of bed, and rushes to the window, wondering what is going on. She gasps when she pulls the curtains back, and sees Dick Grayson crouched on the ledge outside her window, knocking on the glass.

She opens the window, and steps back, allowing him to squeeze through, and into her apartment.

He falls; face first, onto the floor, having caught his foot on the ledge, but jumps to his feet quickly.

"Dick, what are you doing here?" She asks, looking out the window before closing it. "Someone might have seen you."

"Hey, Babs." He says, smiling, and swaying slightly. "I just wanted to say hi."

"Dick; are you drunk?" She asks, looking at him closely, and noticing that he looks rather disheveled.

"I'm not drunk; you're drunk." He says, and then laughs at his own comment. "Okay, maybe I'm a little drunk."

"Dick, what is going on?" She asks.

"Nothing much; you?" He asks, leaning against her dresser, and nearly knocking it over.

"Seriously, Dick; what is going on here?" She asks, forcing him to take a seat on her bed. "It's 3:30 in the morning, and you show up drunk outside my thirteenth floor bedroom window, out of costume; what's going on?"

"What? I can't stop in and say hi to my friend?" He asks trying to stand up and getting pushed back down by Barbara. "I need a reason to visit?"

"Dick, I'm only going to ask you one more time, before I call Bruce and tell him that you're here, drunk." She says. "What's going on?"

His smile disappears, and his face drops. "I'm a failure." He mumbles.

"You're not a failure, Dick." She says; kneeling down at his feet and lifting his head up to face her. "Why do you say that?"

He twists his head out of her grip and looks away, but not before she sees that his eyes are wet.

"Did something happen, Dick?" She asks. "Is everything alright?" She places a hand on his cheek to turn his head back, and she feels the wetness of his tears.

"Wally's dead." He chokes out.

"What?" She asks, shocked.

"He's dead." He repeats, looking into her eyes, as tears fall from his own. "My best bud is dead, and it's entirely my fault."

She pulls him into a hug, and rubs his back. "Shh, Dick; don't say things like that. It couldn't possibly be your fault."

"But it is." He says, crying into her long red hair. "He wouldn't be dead if I had been better."

"What happened, Dick? Tell me everything." She says, sitting on the bed next to him.

"Deathstroke stabbed him through the heart." He says. "He was trying to stab me, but Wally knocked me out of the way and got stabbed instead." He covers his face with his hands. "It's my fault."

"Stop saying that Dick." She says, pulling him into another hug and letting him cry on her shoulder.

"Why? It's true." He says. "If I had been better, then Deathstroke wouldn't have been in a position to stab me, and Wally wouldn't have had to save me. If I had been better, then I would have captured Deathstroke years ago, and none of this would have happened, but he kept getting away." He sits back up and looks her in the eye, and says, "And if I had been better then I would have done the right thing when I had the chance."

"What do you mean, Dick?" She asks, suddenly a little frightened by the darkness in his voice.

"After stabbing Wally, Deathstroke was weaponless. I turned to face him, and you know what he did? He surrendered." He says. "He dropped to his knees, threw his hands in the air and surrendered. And then he laughed; that deep maniacal laugh."

Barbara sits there starring into his eyes, noticing that there doesn't seem to by any life left in them.

"And you know what I did next?" He asks.

"Dick, you didn't…"

"No; I didn't." He replies, dropping his gaze to the floor. "I just cuffed him, and watched him until the cops showed up to take him away. I did nothing to the man who killed my best bud. He sat there laughing while I held Wally as he bled to death. My best friend's killer just sat there, laughing, as my best friend took his last breath, and I did nothing." Anger starts to seep into his voice. "What kind of person am I? What kind of friend does nothing?"

"Dick, you did the right thing." She says, trying to get him to look at her. "Wally wouldn't have wanted you to do anything."

"How would you know?" Dick snaps, standing up and turning his anger on her. "You barely knew him! You didn't even like him!"

"I liked Wally, Dick; I did." She says, standing up, and trying to get him to calm down. "We were just too different people, and only really had you in common. But I know the hero he was, and how great a friend he was to you; and I can tell you that he wouldn't have wanted you to stoop to revenge. He loved you like a brother, and he wouldn't want you to live with the guilt of it."

Dick starts to cry again, and drops to his knees. "I'm sorry, Babs; I didn't mean it."

She drops to her knees, and hugs him. "Shh, it's all right, I know you didn't."

"I just want my best friend back." He chokes out, as he cries into her hair again. "I want him back."

She rubs his back, and is unable to stop her own tears now, as she holds on to her oldest friend. "I know, Dick; I know."

She looks up when she notices a shadow in the window, and sees Batman crouched outside. She makes eye contact, and shakes her head. He frowns, and disappears into the night.

Almost immediately after, she hears her communicator beeping, and reaches for it, while still holding onto Dick.

"Yeah?" She asks.

"Is he there?" A male voice, which she recognizes as Red Arrow's, asks.

"Yes." She replies.

"Do you need help?" He asks.

"No; I got this." She says.

"Just tell him…tell him that I'm here for him, if he needs anything; we're all here for him." Red Arrow says, and then he cuts the communication.

She closes the communicator, and turns it off.

"Who was that?" Dick asks.

"Not important." She says, helping him to his feet. "I'll tell you tomorrow."

She forces him to sit on her bed, and then helps him get undressed. Then she crawls into bed after him, and pulls him into a hug; letting him rest his head on her shoulder. "Sleep." She says, running her hand through his hair.

"Babs?"

"Yeah, Dick?" She asks, looking in his eyes again, and noticing that there seems to be a little bit more life in them now.

"Thanks." He says, leaning in and kissing her.

She kisses him back, and can feel her heart rate suddenly accelerate.

Once the kiss is over, he places his head back on her shoulder, and closes his eyes.

She lays there watching him for a little while, until she is sure he is asleep, and then whispers, "I love you."

As she closes her eyes to go to sleep, she hears him whisper back, "I love you too."

**THE END**


End file.
